Faith 17 Months

Faith is really talking now. Some of her new words include: "Bycee" for Bryce, chocolate, love, I love you, please, shoes, and tons more. She can repeat almost every word that you ask her to say. Bryce loves saying, "Faith can you say..." and most of the time she'll attempt to say the word.

I am still working on weaning her. She is down to nursing about 3 times a day. I try and cut out nursing either first thing in the morning or before one of her naps. She still frequently asks for milk, but is getting less demanding about it. A few days ago she even drank a whole cup of vanilla flavored almond milk. Out of all the types of milk I've given her this seems to be the one she likes best.

She is starting to skip her morning nap more and more, mostly because we are out running around in the mornings and she doesn't fall asleep as easily in the car anymore. If we are home she normally still takes two naps.

For the past several weeks she has been waking up in the middle of the night, normally around 1 am. She screams, "mama" at the top of her lungs over and over for 10 - 20 minutes before falling back to sleep. She doesn't really cry, she just screams until she realizes that I'm not coming in to get her.

Faith is definitely a dare-devil. She went to MyGym yesterday and was climbing on everything with no fear. The other day at playgroup, she climbed up a friend's big slide and was contemplating going down the ladder when I ran to get her. I've also found her on top of Bryce's train table, on the kitchen table, and standing on the rocking horse. I can't leave her alone for even a second.

She is still throwing some pretty big fits. When she gets really mad she tries to hit, pinch or bite. We've been trying hard to correct this behavior by giving her timeouts, taking toys away, and of course telling her no.

She really enjoyed this past session of Music Together. She loves to dance and sign. I think the next time we sign up for a class, I'll put her in MyGym and see how she likes that.

Faith's eye tooth on the upper right side poked through around the 1st of March. No she just has the other upper eye tooth and her two-year old molars left to come in. I'm certain she will need braces, as her teeth already appear to be crowded.

Faith has gone pee-pee in the potty a few times. She doesn't like to sit on the potty, but I try to put her on it before bath. When she does sit, I give her a jelly belly as a reward. She also gets an extra jelly belly when she goes pee-pee.

Bryce 3 Years, 8 Months

Bryce so far has been handling tax season much better this year. He still misses Nathan a lot, but his behavior hasn't suffered on a account of Nathan being gone like it did last year. He still has his normal fits, and he is whining a lot, but nothing out of the ordinary.

His naps are almost non-existent. He'll nap once a week on average now. I actually prefer it when he doesn't nap. He has been pretty good about staying in his room for around an hour for quiet time. Sometimes it is a struggle to make him play quietly on his own, but I try to explain that I need the time to work. My goal is still two-hours of quiet time, but that rarely happens.

I've completely cut dairy out of his diet. I wanted to see if this would make a difference in his digestion. It seems to have really helped. He really likes Almond Milk, and replacing dairy cheese and yogurt with soy hasn't been an issue. The couple of times that he has had dairy, his digestion gets off. I am convinced he is lactose intolerant, just like me.

Bryce is becoming a little better at trying new foods. We still have the rule that if I make something I know he isn't fond of he has to try 5 bites. He is doing this with less fuss than in the past. I'm hoping after trying things several times that he'll actually learn to like more things.

He is still really enjoying playing with Toy Story, Peter Pan, and Cars toys. He is also liking to read books more and more. He is continuing to do really well with his letters and numbers. He is recognizing more and more lowercase letters and all the numbers.

Bryce continues to thrive at school. He is back to playing with Dax and Garrett. He is also playing with Andrew a lot. So far there has been no more incidents of misbehavior. Bryce also keeps talking about a little girl named Sienna. I think he has a crush on her. She is a very pretty little girl.